Letter to Saint Anthony

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The Letter to St. Anthony:

To Friar Anthony, my bishop, Francis (sends) greetings. It pleases me that you would teach sacred theology to the friars, so long as in the study of this you do not extinguish the spirit of prayer and devotion, just as it says in the Rule.

In this Letter to Saint Anthony [CtaAnt] Saint Francis expresses with impressive simplicity his concern about theological teachings. Saint Francis feared they might be some danger for the soul, such as moving away from prayer, such as the loss of faith or sins such as arrogance and vanity. This is attributed to the fact that Francis was polyglot with a privileged childhood and youth with acces to the best education at his time. Therefore, he preferred spirituality over knowledge.

On the other hand, his contemporary Saint Dominic, saw in study the best way to strengthen the spirit and get closer to God. This approach to theology represents one of the main historical differences between the Franciscans and Dominicans.

Saint Anthony was the first priest to enter the then new mendicant order. Being a priest, he could instruct the other brothers, hence Francis called him our "Doctor of the order", due to his reputation for high education.